Chapter 11: A Moment of Exposure
_g 3:
_roject Ch_
_: Septembe-_
Lab_
_has commenced. _ot have any
_ths. Shou_ a thing happen, we will not be able _o focus on the main project. There are no _
I pray _ these fou_ carry the torch of huma_ clon_ facilities.
While _ren are asleep, there is a si_ this project.
/ \
The matches went on for the remainder of the evening. It took the team up multiple levels until the tower closed at 10. Deborah was actually impressed by the four's progression.
"Guess we don't have to worry about you all holding us back now." She said to them. Nova couldn't take her attitude, so she had dragged Luke and Brodie into the alleyway.
"I'm really beginning to hate her." Nova sighed.
"You didn't before?" Luke looked at Nova with pure shock.
"Yeah, you have a point, I already did."
"Maybe you guys should kiss and make up," Brodie suggested. "At least for the team."
"If she can be more humble, I don't have a problem. Until then, I think we're screwed."
"Ugh… so there's a chance we're going to disappear from the face of the turf war scene, if not the planet?" Brodie rolled his eyes. "I was hoping for a bit of oblivion with my share of inner team turmoil."
"I-i-it won't come to that if we can work together guys!" Luke covered his mouth after the outburst. The last thing he needed to do was get his friends riled up, considering the precarious edge they found themselves on.
They stopped. Both of them looked at him, surprised.
Brodie was the first to go.
"Ah, my apartment is over that-a-way. So, I will be going a-this-a-way. See you two tomorrow!" Just like that, the two were alone.
After a few moments of quiet, Nova motioned for Luke to follow her and continue to walk.
"So what did you mean by working together exactly Luke?" Nova inquired. "Do you have a plan?"
Luke looked away for a moment. He did not have a plan. He was unsure if he should try to inspire hope or tell her that he had no idea what to do.
"I-I don't have a plan." Nova looked a bit despondent at the statement.
"B-bu-but! I'm sure I can think of something!" Luke quickly said.
Seeing her apartment building coming up, Nova turned to the doorway and bid her farewells. Now Luke was alone.
He walked home, making sure nobody suspicious would be on his tail.
The walk home was relatively uneventful, however when he turned the hallway before his sister's room could be seen he caught a glimpse of a familiar face.
"-and be careful, that team looks like it has redoubled its efforts. Make sure you keep in a group, I prefer that you travel with one of the boys Demetria." Aeolia softly commanded. Luke decided to just walk by and at least pretend he heard nothing.
"Yes ma'am." The dark skinned, maroon-tentacled girl nodded. The inkling closed her front door after wishing the other a goodnight.
Luke had gotten to the end of the hallway, his arms and shoulders untensed. The female leader was frightening. She was large and definitely athletic to start and carried herself with an air of grace and dignity he'd probably only had seen in his mother. At the same time, she didn't seem to express much, and the younger inkling could swear that her eyes held something. Something that was hard to discern, at least from glance. He had the hardest time looking her in the eye. He wasn't sure why, many inklings had amber eyes. For some reason, however, there was a form of ferocity in hers. He wasn't quite sure if he was seeing things, given her and her band's reputation, but he knew that viciousness he felt was palpable. It had to, given his heartrate fluctuation whenever he saw her, right?
As he stood at the end of the hallway, he suddenly felt eyes burrowing into his back and his spine chilled.
She was looking straight at him.
Thorny eyes, pricking at his thoughts. He wanted to look away. Go into the apartment and curl up away from the unmoving eyes connecting to him, and yet he found himself unable to move. Almost as if she knew the effect her staring was causing caused, she strided up to him calmly, almost tauntingly.
"Hello." Polite, and yet her voice had weight. "You are…Luke…right?" despite being asked a question, the boy found his tongue locked to the base of his mouth and stuttered uselessly. He eventually nodded to confirm his identity, he did not want this hungry lion waiting any longer.
She cracked a smile, "I am not going to hurt you, relax." Luke wasn't sure if he should trust her words, let alone the smile she gave. He could tell that this girl was trying to soothe him, that she was trying to ease him to talk with her.
Part of him was adamant about keeping away from her and heeding his friends' words.
And yet…
He found himself being less tense around her, and allowed himself to talk to her.
"Y-yes ma'am…" he said meekly. If this was an idea to squidnap him now he wouldn't know what to do. Perhaps banging his head on a wall in stupidity for a start?
But she had him now. There was no going back.
"Word on the wind says you are registered with your friends. I also had heard you are the registered group leader." She looked at him up and down before she seemed to confirm something in her head.
Her slight smile was replaced by the stoic gaze she had used since he met her. "You are no leader."
He flinched under her studying, her eyes were once again cold and uninviting. She looked him over. Every analysis made him feel exposed and inferior. "Delicate, flabby, poor stature, easily intimidated, and…" her eyes looked into his, although he was trying to break eye contact. "…poor resolve." She concluded. "You would, quite frankly, be my last choice for being a group leader."
There it was. He knew someone would eventually say it, although it wasn't exactly as if he didn't know it himself. He sighed and looked down in dismay, 'I suppose someone would say it eventually.'
"And yet…it's not as impossible as I may make it seem."
"What?" he mouthed out, she wasn't going to berate him?
"You are a newborn when it comes to Turf Wars, but even a child has to see if they will exceed their limits."
"W-what…" he didn't understand what she was talking about, the reality of the possible situation making him very afraid. "What do you mean?"
"I will offer you a chance to train with me. If you wish to test your meddle, you will meet me tomorrow, just before sun rise." Without another word uttered, she left down the hall. Any words Luke could have uttered to stop her hammered back down his throat with each step he took away from her. Reluctantly he watched her walk away with questions building in his head.
The confusion left him craving sleep. He slumped in resignation as he went for his sister's front door.
When he opened it, he noticed Felicia wasn't in the living area.
'Probably in her room early.' He said walking past it.
He went into his own room for the night and sat on his bed. The silver moonlight lit his room, window side.
He smelled an acrid scent and looked down. He felt himself jitter as he picked his pillow up. The deep blue that stared back at him clear to see on the woven white. As he slowly went over the back of his head with a careful hand he took in breath.
There was nothing there.
No slice, no contusions, nothing hinting at a wound.
He took the pillow and smelled it. It WAS blood, the stench of metal was there, yet he didn't see where it could have come from.
'Maybe I had a sudden nosebleed…' he concluded. The weather had been a bit dry recently hadn't it? Maybe he had a large-scale nosebleed in his sleep…
He thoughts became a bit more muddled before he faltered and succumbed to slumber.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The feeling of floating and the wet sensation, made him open his eye's. He was back in this incredibly lush forest, and yet again he was immobilized.
'Not again…' when he looked up towards the distant tree, he felt something he hadn't the last night: A curiosity. What were the chances of the dream coming a second night? Would it end like last night when he got here? Why was-
The next dozen question s in his mind didn't come. A pain around his neck brought him from his thoughts. He met the amber gaze of the ancient monster that fished him up. It had and wrathful grip around his neck. He could only pray that the burning pain would stop.
Soundless screams came from him. Another crushing bite to secure him in it's jaw only made him want to struggle more, despite the limpness in his body protesting that very thing.
He woke up to his own final dying scream, covered in sweat. He looked around wildly, finally being able to move his head.
He was in his room once more, cold moonlight pouring through.
Luke moved from bed, still in his clothes from today, to put on his sneakers. Slowly, he opened the door to his room. The apartment was still quiet, as it was before.
He was terrible at sneaking around. His footfalls were too heavy to consider any form of stealth. His luck seemed to be on the rise however considering his sister hadn't even stirred from her bed, or perhaps she wasn't even here to begin with. Either way he wasn't going to look this gift seahorse in it's mouth. He needed to clear his head.
There was a roof level he could get to easily. He would regroup there.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The city lights illuminated Nova's path today had been quite a day, but she was ready to go to bed. It would be just a couple of blocks from her apartment building and she could relax.
A feeling crept over her, as if she felt like she was suddenly not alone. She was warned about this.
"Make sure you aren't walking too late outside." Her father said.
"And if you are, stay in the well-lit parts of the city. We don't want any rough customers to give you a hard time." Her mother added.
"It's not far now…" Nova's arms were crossed anxiously, despite the light and the crowd she was traveling in now, she did not feel any safer. She started thrashing around when she felt a hand around her shoulder.
"Relax! It's just me." A polite voice said.
She whipped around, it was just Cass.
"Oh, thank goodness…" she breathed, happier to see a familiar face, even if it was a face met just few hours ago.
"So, I was really wanting to get to know you, Luke and the other guy you hung out with…" Kass started out, he looked nervously to the side, "I kinda didn't get a chance to with Deborah hauling me all over the place. She was very determined to go clothes shopping."
She looked the guy up and down. The guy really was pretty cute, even if he was a tad bit oblivious. "Gee, I can only wonder why?"
"Yeah…" he walked with her in the crowd trying not to get pushed away. "So since were walking in the generally same direction, I thought "Hey! We could probably share and talk with one another about each other." So here I am, asking."
Nova blinked at him for a moment to registered what he had said. "I would if I wasn't so tired." She yawned, as if to prove her point. "So I'll have to say no for now."
Cass looked a bit disappointed. Nova kinda felt bad for turning him down like that, even if what she said was at least half true. "Oh ok, do let me know when you'd like to do so."
Cass followed her for a time but eventually it seemed that the crowd of street-goers had parted them. She continued down the toward her apartment, it was nearly in sight before she had been snatched down an alleyway.
She wriggled, trying to call for help before a pale hand went over her mouth. Her captor dragged the both of them behind a dumpster.
"Quiet!" the voice, a soft male one, told her. "If they find you, you're not going to like the treatment they give you." She saw his head take a glance behind the corner. She took the moment to look at his tentacles, they were glistening red to match his red eyes that were shining in the darkness in the alleyway. She wanted to look as well, out of curiosity of what he was seeing, but he just forced her to sit down.
"Hey Gordy, you saw her go this way, yeah?" she heard a scratchy young voice.
"Not seen her in the crowd but not here either, Vince." A deeper gruffer and still relatively still young voice answered.
"We need to find someone from Aeolia's crew to bring to Stephan or he'll gut us like a fish…"
"Forget it Vince." A sigh. "We're just going to have to deal with Steph chewing us out."
"Gordy, you know I love you bro, would do anything for you, but FUCK THAT." She heard Gordy grunt and the boy she was with huddled down with had backed up in the already tight corner.
"Come out, come out wherever you are…" he taunted. She heard his footsteps get tortuously close. "I've got something nice to share with you…"
"Oooh! Is it a surprise? I looove surprises!" A bubbly, somewhat nasally voice called out, a girl's.
"It's one of the twins! Get her!" Immediately they ran farther and father from their location the foot fall ceasing to be heard over the crowd. The boy looked at the released his grip on Nova and started to walk away.
"Thanks for saving me…" Nova told him. He seemed to pause there for a bit. "My name's Nova, what's your name?"
"It's none of your concern." Nova was taken aback by his response. "You'll know on the battlefield." She looked a bit upset by the unfriendly gesture and she was going to storm out before he told her something.
"Let your friends know they got a nasty bunch looking for them." He elaborated. "They've been hoping that either using part of our team or the one's we've betted with as a bargaining chip would get her to cooperate from what we can tell. Either way, stay away from them and keep in groups."
"Your-"
"Save your breath please…" He disappeared into the crowd, without another word.
Nova joined the crowd, once more. not wanting to be seen by the previous pursuers and anxious to get home.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Luke basked in the moonlight. Despite the high light pollution, the moonlight shone strongly on him. It was amazingly calming. He could feel his mind become less fearful each minute he stayed up here.
It wasn't long until he saw a figure on the roof of a slightly lower building. Purple tentacles and familiar attire; was that Aeolia? What was she doing over there?
The figure was loudly humming a tune, looking out over the city. The voice was feminine, as far as he could tell and it looked roughly like a girl so he could at least assume so.
The tune wasn't anything he'd ever heard but something about it had stirred something within him as he listened to it. He felt his eyelids become heavy as he listened further. Soon his mind followed becoming blank and unfocused, his eyes had dialated and consumed nearly all the color of his eyes. Only when she stopped did he snap up, aware again.
"W-what was that…?" Did he nearly nod off? Or did she nearly put him in a trance? If that was Aeolia, maybe the rumors were true. He looked around for her; she was gone.
He made a whining sound at the back of his throat. He had a feeling things were going to only get weirder during his stay in Inkopolis.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! I am here to briefly talk. I know I've been infrequent. But I'm hoping the recent turn of events will help. I'm not doing so well academically and have been booted but I'm not letting it keep me down. I still plan to do my art as well as doing this fic on the side.
I have to thank the Splatoon Writing Community Discord for helping to stimulate my brain for good writing criticisms and help me find out what way I should go and a technical level of my fic. Speaking of which, once I hit a certain point, I will be fixing chapters. this will mostly be spell checking what got past me but also will be combining chapters that need to really be one topic. I will also be taking some criticisms into account for my more experimental ideas. As this is a hobby, I don't know would be the best approach to go for my fic, and thus get lots of different suggestions from writer friends. But I consider it as much an art as the drawings I do, so i want to pretty it up a bit. I assure you, even if it takes a while, i do try to keep this thing updated and I don't plan on losing interest if I can help it.
I hope those who are keeping here for the long haul will love the ride and those who may not be convinced to continued reading so far to bear with me.
Staaaaaaaaaaaaaay Fresh!
